Wow, calve prices all over

Dave from MN · Sep 4, 2008

Central Livestock, Albany MN
Beef Steers
300-400 lbs. 115.00 128.00
400-600 lbs. 95.00 115.00
600-800 lbs. 95.00 110.00
800-1000 lbs. 90.00 100.00

Holsteins
300-400 lbs. 80.00 90.00
400-600 lbs. 78.00 84.00
600-800 lbs. 70.00 75.00
800-1000 lbs. 70.00 75.00

Dairy Calves ($10 for bull calves)
90-120# 10.00 50.00
120-150# 75.00 100.00
150-250# 125.00 185.00

I dont know, buying a bunch of $10-$50 calves is awefully tempting. Corn prices may falter a bit and dairy steer prices come up , a guy or gal may actually make some decent profit if everything came together right. Its a shame to see dairy calf prices so low. $10 hardly pays for the gas to haul them to the salesbarn.

Jake in NY · Sep 4, 2008

Never mind that it won't even pay for the semen used to get the cow pregnant, much less the trucking and commission. Nothing like sending 3 bull calves to the sale and getting a bill!

Jake

Traditional Farmer · Sep 4, 2008

I'd say now might be a good time to buy them although I usually buy baby calves to raise between Thanksgiving and Christmas.No one wants to mess with them before Christmas and they will be just right for hitting new grass in the Spring so the hay cost will be low.

Bill in IL · Sep 4, 2008

I would rather eat a dairy steer that's why I have a few of them. Good marketing has made angus or anything black the ones to raise.

It hurts me to see 10 dollar calves too but you gotta buy them out of a sale barn so they will probably get sick then it does take a bunch with the cost of milk replacer just to get them up to 200 lbs It is good to see prices on them have come back up on them but I don't know about making much a profit on five dollar corn, four dollar hay and three dollar straw.

RodinNS · Sep 4, 2008

The first bill from the sale barn for trucking usually brings out the ball peen hammer or the gun next time...
We've been looking at those prices on bob's now for 5 years. Slaughter cows aren't much better but cost more to truck. Poor cow or a cow with bad feet has to go to the woods now. You can't take a chance on sending it anymore...

Rod

Dave from MN · Sep 4, 2008

My 8 and 12 year old boys each want to buy two from a local farmer freind. I have 3 bags of replacer left from last spring. Can also get waste miulk from another farmer friend. I have a hard time telling them no after I bought 4 for $150 each last year. The youngest wants to sell his 800#er and use that money to buy as many week olds as he can. Could be a learning for earning for him, or could be a piggy bank depletor, hard to say. I am happy they want calves over Xbox's.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2008

A story going around a few years ago when calf prices were so low.
A farmer went to the sale barn with two calves in the back of his pick up. He put a sign on the truck "free calves" then went in to watch stock sell. When he came back out to his truck there were four calves in the back.

Sparktrician · Sep 4, 2008

Dave from MN...if your boys want to raise calves, and you have the facilities to do it...I say let em have at it...would be a good learning experiance, may make money....maybe not. That would be best learning experiance. GOOD LUCK.

rrlund · Sep 4, 2008

You'd be nuts to drag those dairy calves home if they were FREE. Pay more for the colored calves,put half the feed in them and have them out of there in half the time.Every time I've had holstein calves in the feedlot,on the same feed as the colored,they were eligible for Social Security before they were finished.

Lou · Sep 4, 2008

Im just wondering what it would take to raise these calfs for beef ? What kind of shelter, how much pasture, how much food ? I need a new project to spend $$$$ on.

RodinNS · Sep 4, 2008

We raised one and slaughtered it about a year ago. It made nice beef, but we drive the grain to him, hard and killed him young. If you want to try that with a holstein, look up 'barley beef' on google. I'm sure you'll find lots of info...
Basically, you drive grain to them with little hay or silage so that they grow fast and fatten without getting too big. If you put a black and white on a regular diet you'll have a carcass that will dress 800+ and probably pushing well past 24 months before it gets any finish on it. Forget about pastureing it if you want good beef. It will just be too big and too old to finish nice.
They don't need a lot for shelter once they get a bit bigger. Cold doesn't matter, but do keep the drafts and wet off them when they're younger.

Rod

Larry806 · Sep 4, 2008

We raised about 90 % Holsteins for a lot of years . Never did we have a colored calf grow as fast or finish as quick .
what I found was when we got them at 3 day's old get them on full feed and keep them here . We used a Braden Bottle , it looks like a milk bottle but has pellet feed in it . When the calf finish's his milk he will get a mouth or 2 of feed . The first thing that does is eliminate scours . The next thing is it helps get them started on feed for easier weaning . We shipped a lot of 1400 pound Holsteins at 13 to 14 months old .
Now if you want some real good eating raise them as bulls . Butcher a young Holstein bull that was never used and you'll never have a steer or heifer again .

Walt Davies · Sep 4, 2008

Central Livestock, Albany MN
Beef Steers
300-400 lbs. 115.00 128.00
400-600 lbs. 95.00 115.00
600-800 lbs. 95.00 110.00
800-1000 lbs. 90.00 100.00

Holsteins
300-400 lbs. 80.00 90.00
400-600 lbs. 78.00 84.00
600-800 lbs. 70.00 75.00
800-1000 lbs. 70.00 75.00

Are those actual prices or per lb results.
At the auction they use the 120 in case it gos to a quarter or half cent.
115 to 128 is $1.15 to $ 1.28 a lb. and that is very good prices for this time of year.
$.90 to $1.00 a lbs for 1000 lbs beef is a lot better than $.50 cents like last year.

I wouldn't touch those dairy calves half will die on you and the other half won't bring enough to pay the feed bill.

Walt

rrlund · Sep 4, 2008

You've had you're experience,I've had mine. Holsteins are bred for milking,not for beef. I'll never waste my time feeding any more.You'll take a hit on price even after you throw your money away feeding them.

big hunter · Sep 4, 2008

I just bought 2 herefords bull calves 450# each, paid $.90/lb.

And I'm not sure if I did it right but I just took one that was 20 months old (a hereford) (got it when it was 5 months old) to the butcher a couple days ago. He was on pasture his whole life, we gave him 12% feed everyday (about 5 lbs in the beginning then up to about 15 to 25 lbs at the end) He had hay 24/7 , fed him sweet corn stalks and ears both years, apples and pears...I didn't take him off the pasture before taking him to the butcher... By my calculations bought, vet., raised and in the freezer he cost will be right around $2.00/lb.

ok guys school me...

sorry I got off track...

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2008

Manitoba Canada livestock price
.90-1.03 800-900 steers
.85-.94 800-900 heifers
todays auction mart on age verified cattle there was a .13 difference higher in much the same wieght cows .41-.54(1600-1650) than cows that were not age verified.

Lou · Sep 4, 2008

Thanks Rod I will have more time in about a year, if all goes well, and would like to grow some beef, probably not holsteins. this is a great sight , I just keep reading and learning.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2008

Those can't be quality calves bringing $10. It's just a way to get you there to buy something. Buy what you know is quality stock and they'll grow right and make you more money everytime.

RodinNS · Sep 4, 2008

You're obviously not familiar with the bob calf market, at least not in this area. Lots of good calves go for 10 bucks. Some go for 40 bucks. Some go for 140. If you lined them up together you couldn't pick the 10 dollar calf from the 140 dollar calf most times.
Sending calves to the sale barn is a lot like taking a trip to the casino. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Rod

rrlund · Sep 4, 2008

I'd be willing to bet though,that the $10 "dairy" calves are jerseys.

RodinNS · Sep 4, 2008

Nope. Black and white. We've had them. Too many of them. They're not poor calves. Just poor prices.

Rod

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2008

no, they send the seller a bill for selling jersey calves.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2008

You can take Holstein steer calves, start them on protein pellets and shelled corn at two months old, and reach 1150 lbs at 13 months of age. Good lean meat. Did it for years.

Wow, calve prices all over

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